When you think your kids should be more grateful...

Q: Do you think your kids should be more grateful?

My client goes on vacation to Cancun with his family.

Three kids ranging from age 8-16 and his wife.

They’ll be at an all-inclusive resort.

They’ll do some extreme zip-lining one of the days.

They’ll swim with dolphins, too.

He takes his laptop and makes sure his phone has service.

Because he needs to be available for some work.

He has to pay attention to the deals that are in the pipeline.

Because those kinds of deals are what is paying for this vacation in the first place.

They love Cancun!

The kids hop on golf carts to get to different places in the resort.

They spend hours figuring out how to surf on the in-resort FlowRider.

They divide their time going down the waterslides and playing tag in the lazy river.

My client does this stuff, too.

And he checks his email for that contract to come through.

He keeps an eye out for texts that signal a fire he needs to put out at work.

His kids order anything they want from the all-inclusive menu then eat by the pool.

They get ice cream six times a day.

Then they complain that the sun is too hot.

They want to play a game on their device instead of swim.

They whine about having to wait 30 minutes to be seated for dinner.

And my client can’t believe it!

He gets angry.

“Are you kidding me?” he thinks.

Then he says, “Most kids never get to have a vacation like this! You should be more grateful!”

His wife tells him to stop texting work.

And he’s frustrated.

“How do you think we’re paying for this vacation?!” he says back to her.

Sound familiar?

You’re successful.

You have a thriving business.

You have a family that you care about.

You’re working your guts out AND trying to be a good parent.

And it drives you crazy when your kids don’t appreciate how good they have it.

How good you’re making it for them.

So, you react.

You feel annoyed.

You get angry.

But did you know, that making the money doesn’t ever have to be in conflict with creating the relationships you desire?

You can have both.

You can feel totally connected to your kids instead of irritated that they are ungrateful.

You can unplug from the work deal with calm and confidence.

You can make money with ease – without sacrificing the relationships that are important to you.

The way we do this is to first, recognize that whatever emotion you are feeling (anger, frustration, irritation, stress) is completely within your control.

Our emotions are not governed by our children’s level of gratitude.

Our feelings our not at the mercy of something our spouse says.

Recognize that we are creating every feeling we experience.

Then decide if you want to feel something different.

My clients learn to master managing their feelings.

Not by ignoring them or pushing through them.

But by recognizing that they are creating how they feel.

Then doing the work to manage those feelings.

The result: a sense of deeper calm, self-assurance, and overall groundedness in their day-to-day schedule and relationships.

Do you think your kids should be more grateful?

There are positive, uplifting, connected ways to tackle this.

I can teach you how. Right now.

And then that trip to Cancun is going to be off the charts for you and your family.

Happy zip-lining!

Sending love,

K